Prepare the pastry and the berries/cherries. Toss fruit with the lemon juice then stir in the sugar and flour. Add filling to pastry-lined pie pan.

Topping:

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter

Place the flour and sugar in a bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or fork. Sprinkle mixture on top of the pie filling.

Bake at 375-degrees for 50-60 minutes or until browned. Don’t forget: Bake pies on the bottom shelf! This eliminates two problems. One, you don’t have to protect the edges of the crust from over-browning, and two, it guarantees your crust is baked through on the bottom.

If you’re preparing ahead and planning to freeze pies–freeze them unbaked (after adding the filling and topping). To bake a frozen pie, it’s best to not thaw it out before it goes in the oven. Preheat the oven then stick the pie in right from the freezer. If you let the pie thaw out first, the crust can become soggy. If it’s baked right away, it thaws then bakes so quickly, the crust has no time to become a soggy dough mess. Keep an eye on the pie at the end–it will need a bit of additional baking time to make up for starting out frozen.